Birthday wish list: toilet seat

We had a great day celebrating my daughter’s 16th birthday yesterday. This was just her family party, friend event will come later. She wants to take a group of girls to our family beach house, which current looks like this:

Clearly you can see why the friend party will have to wait.

We all had a good chuckle over how we do birthdays around our house. You see, we all LOVE to get things for our house. In the case of my girls, they love to get new things for their rooms. This is basically how we decorate on a budget year round.

“Hey, sweetie, your birthday is coming up! How about a new toilet seat for your bathroom and a set of sheets for your bed?”

Yep, no joke. A toilet seat and nice sheets were among the gifts this year. And she was thrilled — she really was! Nothing like a shiny new toilet seat to brighten a girl’s special day. I’ve trained her well.

We have bought something nice (whatever our budget allows) for our house every year for our anniversary too. We almost always forgo staying at hotels in favor of shopping for something new — a cool new lamp, an accessory, something for the walls, furniture or plumbing — whatever strikes our fancy, or is a need that we normally would put off due to a limited budget. That is our kind of romantic evening! :-) Dinner and a new faucet!

It has worked for 20 years, and we are still happily married! Who needs diamonds or pearls? Give me new plumbing fixtures!

Come to think of it, maybe that is where I got the tag line phrase for my business: Refining your home for authentic living™. We make refining our home a priority all year round, with really no decorating budget. We just make our home the recipient of lovely and practical gifts on holidays that we can use or enjoy all year round. Other people buy jewelry or cars or electronics. We buy house stuff. Nothing really fancy, just stuff that makes life in our home fun and adds to the beauty of everyday living. Authentic stuff. Like new toilet seats.

Welcome! I'm Melissa Michaels. I created The Inspired Room in 2007 to inspire women to fall in love with the home they have. Ten years later, I'm still here doing my thing and loving every minute of it. I'm so glad YOU are here!